Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Why Stan Lee is my role model

Most people think I admire Stan Lee because he created Spider-Man or The Avengers.  True, I definitely give him his super-hero props.  As a comic book reader I grew up seeing his name in comics and hearing his voice in Saturday morning cartoons.  

But that’s not why he’s one of my role models.  

What makes Lee special to me would hit me later in life.  It was when I learned he didn’t work for Marvel until his his 40’s!  

When I left my insurance job for Marvel Comics I was in my 30’s.  Even though I snagged my dream job, I still had a ton of head trash.  Why couldn’t I have done this earlier?  I should have went to art school.  Everyone is so much better than me!

The list goes on…

Once I learned Lee didn’t work his magic till his 40’s.  That helped me clean up all my negative self talk about what I should have done .  Or all those missed opportunities.  

And don’t think Lee didn’t have head trash too.

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing.”

Let me tell ya, everything you have done to this point makes you uniquely placed to do something.  I don’t care what your age is.

Oprah Winfrey said, “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

So suit-up like the X-men, and live YOUR adventure.  Head trash is like your mother-in-law.  It doesn’t go away but you ain’t gotta listen to it either.

Excelsior!

Adam

I think of you in the shower

Jeff Bezos was interviewed in Success magazine.  He was talking about Amazon Prime and introducing same day delivery.  Back then I thought instant delivery was about as doable as driving your car with chopsticks.  Someone put WAY too much cocoa in his Cocoa Puffs.

So how did Bezos go from two day to same day delivery?

He said he’s constantly thinking about what Amazon’s customers need.  It literally keeps him up night!  He even thinks about their needs in the shower.

That’s not creepy or anything…

Fast forward to today, now I do it too!  I understand why Amazon is successful and why I’ve been an Amazon Prime customer for years.  

“Obsession” makes people nervous but it’s quite helpful if you want to play an instrument, keep your kids safe, or run a business.  When I started out I wanted to save the world.  Maybe take on some free coaching or discount my first course.  Whatever I had to do to help everyone I could.  

You don’t want to help everyone, you want to help the right people.  Helping the wrong ones is like dragging a runner across the finish line.  It’s exhausting.  And you ruin your good shoes. 

The more you become sociopathitcally clear about who you serve, your offerings will get better.  Your job will get easier and everyone wins.  

Your bank account will thank you too.

If you’d like help with with funneling your client obsession and helping the right people, book a coaching session with me today.  https://adamstreet.net/contact-me/

Adam

Lil Nas X ‘gets’ Seth Godin

Let’s pick up where we left off.  Breaking down Seth Godin’s Marketing in Five Steps.  To recap, the first step was:  Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling , and a contribution worth talking about.  

The second step is: 

Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

Years ago I met a lady who was a teacher and school principal.  She took over a small charter school in a low income area.  Her K-3 classes were full of kids with with low test scores.  In a couple of years she turned the school around.  How did she do it?  With music.  

It seems math, science, and things that bore the pants off 2nd graders is more fun when you sing it. She said the tougher the child or learning disability the better singing and music is for them.

Surely you’d think the media would pick up on this.  They should be implementing programs like this all over town, right?  

Nope.  Almost no one knows about what she does and most educators don’t care.  They think she’s crazy or that her school is an isolated case. That kind of thing can’t work “here”…

Famous rapper Lil Nas X used to be an aspiring rapper on Twitter.  He promoted his songs using memes and short videos. You’d think an aspiring rapper would file his song on the Billboard rap charts.  Where everyone loves rap.  He didn’t.  Nas listed his song Old Town Road on the country chart.

Almost no one cared.  Except Billboard who removed Old Town Road for “not being a country song”.  With all the chatter Billboard’s decision caused, two weeks later Nas’ song was No. 1.

Build it and they will come.  No.  This ain’t field of dreams.  

Build it for one, make it cool, and she will tell her friend.  That’s what Seth is talking about.

Adam

New Rules [and not Dua Lipa’s…]

About 15 years ago I realized something…

I loved doing business with artists.  Gary, my favorite barber,  was an artist with hair.  

My favorite landscaper was an artist.  My lawn was flawless like Dua Lipa’s hair at the Grammys.  My next several landscapers sucked.  

Well, they didn’t suck.  They just weren’t artists.

Entrepreneurs are the same way.  I vibe with the creative ones a little differently.  John Carlton is one of my favorite copywriters.  I recently learned he draws.  One of my favorite marketers is Ben Settle.  He’s into writing and comic books.

When I say “artists” I’m not taking about people who can draw or paint.  I’m talking about people like you and me who are creative draftsmen who approach what we do like an art form.

We’re not entrepreneurs.  We’re artistic entrepreneurs.

My Shifu Perry Marshall (with Megan Madedo’s help) broke it down like this:

The traditional business paradigm rules:

  1. The thing that counts is the work you can get paid for.
  2. Your number one job is to serve the market and build the business.
  3. The guiding question is “What will generate a profit?”

But the artist paradigm says:

  1. The thing that counts is your real work, your art, the work you care deeply about that only you can do.
  2. Your number one job is to serve the work and build a body of work you can be proud of.
  3. The guiding question is not “What will generate a profit?”  The guiding question is “What’s worth doing even if it fails?”.

That’s why so much “marketing training” out there sucks for us.  Tons of traditional business paradigm people out there shrieking about marketing plans.  Your USP and all that hardcore business paradigm stuff.

That information is ok.  Even helpful but it doesn’t ‘feel right’ to us.  It’s like that cause it’s NOT us.  Especially in the beginning.

If I lost it all tomorrow and you saw me driving an Uber.  I’d know everything I’ve done since I left my old job mattered!    You would too!

There’s nothing wrong with traditional business paradigm advice.  It has it’s place.  It’s just not the first place we go because it’s not who we are.

We’re artists, baby!

Adam

I’m Ranting Cats and Dogs!

Yesterday, I blogged about Seth Godin’s book This is Marketing.

I called it his newest book but a quick trip to Amazon told me I was wrong.  This one came out in 2018 and The Practice is his newest book.  Whoops.

While I was on Amazon I glanced at the reviews and this one caught my eye (also above)

“I like Seth a lot but sometimes his ideas are not a reflection of the real world. There are some products that benefit from telling a brand story but 99% of products don’t need a story. When I buy a frozen pizza or cereal I don’t need a brand story, just give me a good product at a fair price. If marketers should want to change the world why do some brands who have violated consumer trust still grow and make money? Yes, some products solve my problems but most just meet my basic need as a consumer.”

This guy does have a point.  The average person who goes to buy a frozen pizza may grab any old pie off the shelf but that’s NOT everyone.  

Not all brands tell stories but ALL brands are storytelling.  What’s the difference?

Digiorno Pizza tells a story (which is also their USP).  It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno.  Their pizza is like ordering from a restaurant.  Not really, but that’s what they say.  And back in 1995 when DiGiorno came out, it was a lot better than most frozen pizzas.  

Now on to storytelling.  

Every product is storytelling.  The price tells a story.  The font on the box tells a story.  The color of the packaging tells a story.  When you package a product or service everything matters.  

If you think like that guy, you’re gonna be stressed.  And you’re gonna shell out tons of time and cash trying to keep clients from running away faster than Usain Bolt.

I will admit, some commodities or his “basic needs” type products do require little brain power.  Like hangers.  Hangers are not particularly exciting to most people.  Even though I saw an article where two experts reviewed 32 different models of hangers for over 8 hours.

This guy helps make my point from yesterday clear.  If you make a product for everyone I hope you have a rich and generous uncle.  But if you focus on a small niche, you’ll find people who actually give a damn about you.

Winston Churchill said, “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” There’s nothing wrong with all animals.  But if you like pigs, market to pigs.  Cats and dogs will be fine without you.

Adam